Drifting by AlphaDelta1001

Part 14 - The Executioner

It took the Kaguya a moment to realize who the hand actually belonged to.

"What is this? When did he...?" Before he could even ask, Kimimaro thought back to when Kakuzu chopped at the wall and clouded the air in dust. He must have detached his limb in the smokescreen and sent it into the ground, where it then waited for him to make his move.

But... how was he able to detach his own limb?

Before he could figure it out, Kimimaro then remembered he was still in a fight and looked ahead of him just in time to see Kakuzu's fist closing in on his face. He had but a split second to raise both his arms over his face and block the punishing blow that sent him spiraling down the corridor, the impact of which forcing him to lose his bone dagger. He bounced and cart-wheeled down the entire hall like a ragdoll before his body slammed into the back wall and he vanished into another room behind a cloud of dust and debris.

Watching the far barrier cave in under the boy's body, Kakuzu retracted his blackened fist and smirked. "That should have shaken him up a little."

When the wall of dust settled, Kakuzu saw the form of his opponent step out of the rubble. His foe's body covered in dirt and gravel, the Akatsuki member watched as Kimimaro's broken arms snapped back into place and healed themselves, with any other broken bones snapping loudly as they were replaced by new ones.

Upon performing damage control, an unfazed Kimimaro then glared back up with more noticeable fury, as bones began protruding out of different parts of his body. Taking on the appearance of a hedgehog from the number of spikes he was able to produce, the Kaguya locked his best death stare on his adversary, who didn't show a single bit of surprise at his new form.

"That's attractive," Kakuzu commented, raising his right arm and revealing the stump under the sleeve. The hand he had detached from it, which was still in the ground, then extended its threads towards it and grabbed onto his forearm, before pulling the limb back to it. The thumping of the heart hidden within the cluster of tendrils was sucked back into the Akatsuki member's body, at the same time the threads sewed his limb back into place. "But then again, it is your bloodline."

"I do not care for appearances. As long as I am able to defeat Orochimaru-sama's enemies, than that is all I need," Kimimaro replied, before crouching and sprinting down the hallway.

Kakuzu watched the boy rush at him without hesitation. In response, the Akatsuki member extended his left hand and, the forearm expanding, fired his hardened fist straight at the approaching boy, who span around it in a graceful dodge before leaping at him with two long bones extending from his hands.

Intent on impaling the man, Kimimaro lunged at him, only for Kakuzu's right hand to suddenly shoot up at him from his other arm and grab his ankle again. Just as the Kaguya was only inches from spearing his quarry, the Akatsuki member used his extending limb to yank the boy out of the air, away from him, and fling him back down to the ground. Slamming him onto the cave floor with a loud crack, Kakuzu than let out a loud growl before hurling Kimimaro through the side wall, sending him straight through it and into another room.

Withdrawing both his stretched arms, which he was able to do thanks to the properties of his Jiongu abilities, Kakuzu smirked towards the new hole he had created. "This hallway really inhibits some of your more impressive moves, and doesn't give you much room to dodge either. Me. I have no problems with it."

"Sawarabi no Mai!" (Dance of the Seedling Fern)

Before Kakuzu could begin undermining his foe even further, massive pillars of bone jutted straight out of the side wall and straight towards him. An alarmed bounty hunter leapt down the hall and out of the way, the space he was standing in crumbling under rubble and being skewered by the massive cluster of white protrusions.